On your Mark, get set, enter this literary reading contest

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island OutLOUD has been selected by the National Endowment for the Arts to host The Big Read, a program designed to revitalize the role of literary reading in American popular culture.

OutLOUD is one of only 76 organizations nationwide to receive this honor. Members chose “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” because its classic American humor appeals to all ages.

Staten Island events related to the community read are planned regularly through March.

In addition, organizers at Staten Island OutLOUD have developed a fun, easy-to-enter contest where the 19th and 21st centuries collide — and Islanders are invited to participate.

The OutLOUD team is looking for Staten Islanders to recite a few favorite lines from “Tom Sawyer” — or any other Twain treasure — and submit them through YouTube.com.

Contestants should read their lines with drama and flair.

Other suggestions include dressing up in period costume, and filming at a location that might be reminiscent of pivotal scenes in “Tom Sawyer,” such as the Courthouse at Historic Richmond Town, or the Alice Austen House.

OutLOUD members will choose a grand prize winner, who will receive a $100 gift certificate to a Staten Island business or restaurant.

Honorable mentions from each shore — North, East, West and South — also will be named.

Selections can be as brief as 15 seconds, or as long as two minutes. They should be uploaded to YouTube.com.

A web link to the video, along with the entrant’s complete contact information, should be sent to sioutloud@yahoo.com.

All submissions must be received by March 15, and any questions may be submitted to the same e-mail address.

Interested? Here are few great quotes from “Tom Sawyer” to consider using in your entry.

“He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it — namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it’s only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.”

“Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.”

“To promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go out and do that very thing.”